Page 29 of More Than Pen Pals

“Keep your voice down,” I hiss.

She repeats her declaration in a whisper.

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

“I won’t. My boyfriend of two years broke up with me the night before I moved here. I can’t date Ash.”

“Oh.” She shakes her head. “No, you can’t date Ash.”

I decide to say what I’m thinking, since she always does. “The speed at which you change your mind bogglesmymind.”

“Hey, I’m a realist.”

“You most definitely are not.”

“I am. As soon as I get new information about something, I process it in seconds, and I form a new opinion based on that information.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I’m not sure that’s the definition of realism.”

“Well, it’s the definition ofsomething,and I’m sticking with it. There’s no use in holding onto an outdated opinion for pride’s sake.”

She’s not wrong.

“So,” she says, “how are you going to marry Ash if you can’t date him?”

I sigh. “I’m not going to marry Ash.” Why does that statement open a pit in my stomach?

“I bet you one hundred sixty-five thousand, three hundred twenty-two dollars and seventeen cents your last name will one day be Hamilton.”

“Since I can only dream of having that much cash, I’m not making that bet, even though you’d most likely lose.”

“Then what are you going to do? You want to do the horizontal tango with the man, but you can’t, and you also can’t avoid him any more than you could when you thought he hated you. How’s this going to work?”

I angle my head back and stare at the ceiling.

“You have to tell him,” Wendy states.

My head snaps back down. “Tell him what?”

“That you can’t date him—and why.”

“Do I, though?”

“Are you actually considering not telling Ash Hamilton the entire, absolute, total truth about something? Really?”

I groan.

She asks, “Does he know you want to have your wicked way with him?”

“I don’t want to—”

“Don’t you lie to me, Leslie Beckett.”

I take a deep breath and tamp down the images forming in my brain. “That doesn’t mean Iwould.”

“Well, why ever not? Under the right circumstances, that is.”

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